Blog Archives

Documents obtained by VICE News show the RCMP watched closely as Indigenous protesters erected a teepee on Parliament Hill this summer, with the force’s national protective intelligence unit believing activists could disrupt Canada Day celebrations, and that the ceremony attended by communists “may not remain peaceful.” Read the rest of this entry →

Some in attendance said the men identified themselves as members of the “Proud Boys,” a U.S.-based ultra-conservative fraternity-like group that believes in “reinstating a spirit of Western chauvinism during an age of globalism and multiculturalism.”

by Jeff Lagerquist, CTV News, July 3, 2017

A First Nations ceremony held in downtown Halifax on Canada Day to honour missing and murdered indigenous women was interrupted by men who identified themselves as part of an alt-right organization — and included two members of the Royal Canadian Navy. Read the rest of this entry →

Jocelyn Iahtail, centre, requesting the release of nine people arrested for attempting to bring teepee poles on Parliament Hill without a permit. The detainees show of their hand-cuffs inside a tent-turned-detention block. APTN/Photo

by Jorge Barrera, APTN National News, June 29, 2017
Outside the tent-turned-holding cell along the sidewalk by Parliament Hill’s East Block Jocelyn Iahtail and Elder Sophie Gunner-Sackabuskum wanted to know what happened to someone named “Crow” who they said was arrested along with nine others for trying to carry teepee poles onto the Hill grounds without a proper permit. Read the rest of this entry →

Anne Solomon, president of the N’Swakamok Friendship Centre in Sudbury, said the centre’s board of directors decided they would not be celebrating the anniversary of confederation. (Markus Schwabe CBC)

As the rest of the country is preparing to mark Canada 150, others plan to sit out on the celebrations.

Many Indigenous communities will not be taking part in Canada Day festivities, saying the nation has a deeper history than just 150 years, and that celebrations do not recognize Indigenous history or experience. Read the rest of this entry →

Within a week of them being installed as part of the Canada 150 celebration, vandals scrawled profanities across banners lining the Mercier Bridge, and tore them to shreds. (Courtesy David S. Lahache)

by Daniel J. Rowe, Eastern Door, June 23, 2017

Within the week of the Jacques Cartier Champlain Bridges Incorporated (JCCBI) installing banners along the sides of the lanes going in and out of Kahnawake, a couple of them were targeted.Read the rest of this entry →

As Canada spends half a billion dollars to celebrate its 150th year of land theft and colonial violence, Indigenous communities across Canada remain without access to clean water and endure acute poverty. Indigenous territories remain coveted by extractive industries and multinational corporations, who receive physical support from the RCMP and other agencies to forcibly steal and contaminate unceded Indigenous lands. From Oka to Elsipogtog, Canadian history shows us that Indigenous people who stand up to protect their homelands from destruction are frequently met with military force. Read the rest of this entry →